


Is this the real life?

by IndignadaIngrid



Category: Disney - All Media Types, The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Episode: s01e13 The First Day, Episode: s01e16 Enchanting Grom Fright, Episode: s01e18 Agony of a Witch, Episode: s01e19 Young Blood Old Souls, F/F, Lumity, M/M, The Grom (The Owl House), The Owl House - Freeform, Vinira, grom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26274241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndignadaIngrid/pseuds/IndignadaIngrid
Summary: Emira Blight's pointless little life is turned upside down when a figure from her past comes back and makes her question all her decisions.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Edric Blight/Jerbo, Emira Blight/Viney
Comments: 47
Kudos: 227





	1. A Jiggle in Time

Emira opened her eyes and was already greeted by Edric’s mischievous smile from across the room. He lay on his bed, his hair messy and mysterious stains all over his t-shirt. 

“Morning, sis.” 

She smiled back, in silence. Another day, another same old routine.

The twins would wake up together, get up together, brush their teeth together. At least they didn’t _shower_ together anymore and hadn’t done it in years. But Edric was there when she was drying and braiding her hair, doing her make-up and getting her backpack ready for school. Always there. 

He’d be there for breakfast too, but at least they could pick up on Amity together.

“Sooo…” Edric said, “How did it go with Luz?”

Amity almost choked on her _Screamios._ “What with Luz?”

“She was applying for Hexside wasn’t she?” he asked, thrusting a spoonful of his own cereal in his mouth. “Is she in the baby class after all?”

“Oh, that!” Amity took a sip of water. She seemed relieved. “She learned the second spell, but I don’t know if she got Principal Bump’s approval.”

Breakfasts were always like this, just the three of them. Their parents were never around, always too busy or too tired. The servants would get the table ready before they came down to the dining room and disappear for the time they were there. 

“I’m sure she made it.” Emira decided to add. “She’s a though one, that human.”

“She is, isn’t she?” Amity whispered with a dreamy smile.

That was new. 

Amity wasn’t _dreamy_. She was serious, fierce, cold. That’s what made picking up on her so funny. 

Emira glanced at Edric, but her brother didn’t seem to notice their sister smiling sideways while she swirled her spoon inside her bowl. Of course, he was always too oblivious to notice such small behavioral changes. She would take the opening, though.

“How weird that you two will be classmates now, right?”

“Yeah, of co-” Amity stopped mid-sentence and looked up. “Wait, classmates?”

“Sure, if she doesn’t end up in the baby class, you two will be spending a lot of time together. Especially if she chooses the Abomination track.” She could see the gears moving inside her sister’s head as the piece of information sank in. Amity hadn’t considered this. Her cheeks were starting to redden. Emira leaned back. “Of course that doesn’t change anything.”

Amity got up at once and backed away from the table. “Right?! It doesn’t change anything. I- I need to get going, don’t wanna be late for my first day!” She rushed away from the table, leaving the twins alone and her breakfast barely finished.

“What’s going on with her?” Edric raised an eyebrow.

Emira smiled as she took Amity’s leftovers and swallowed a spoonful of the cereal. “Oh, Ed, you’d never get it.”

“Riiiight.” he frowned for a second, then recovered his unmindful expression. “Should we hurry as well?”

“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time to get there.”

***

Getting to school on the first day of semester was always extra-cringy for Emira. She’d usually have no problem with walking around with Edric or Amity when she joined them, but in days like these, kids were just _so happy_ to see their friends again. Circles and bubbles of friendly laughter, hugs and excited voices would fill the pavement that lead to the entryway, mingling with the colorful tones of the coven banners. 

But not for her.

Emira would walk up the wooden doors with Edric and Edric alone. She did spot Amity and her abomination rushing to greet her friends, but she herself didn’t have anyone to greet. 

Other than that, it was a day like any other. She went to Mimics class with Edric. Then went to Defense Against the Stark Arts _with Edric_. Then to Spelling class with Edric… And that weird kid who was like, three years ahead. Just another regular day.

Or at least it started as one. 

The Emperor’s Coven was paying a visit to the school in order to approve the repairs for a recent incident, and Principal Bump had asked her and Edric to represent the Illusion track. What an irony. 

Their performance went as clear as it could’ve been. Spinning their fingers, they filled the room with the most dazzling images anyone could expect. The floor became lava, then ice, then grass. Butterflies filled the air, followed by fairies and even small dragons. It rained, it snowed, and they finished the presentation with a joint magic circle that created an almost too real sun behind of them. The twins bowed for their audience, who clapped and stood up for them. It was barely impossible to evaluate the Inspector’s reaction, but she did write something down on her clipboard.

Amity was next, flawless as always. She always overdid herself, maybe even too much. Her performance included a whole waltz choreography with her abomination which ended up with her being raised way up in the air. 

“And that concludes the presentation for the abomination track.” Amity came down and bowed along with her dance partner, snatching more claps from the audience.

The Inspector wasn’t clapping, but Principal Bump was.

“That was some _real_ Hexside magic, huh?” He asked her. 

“Yes…” the Inspector answered. “This is… good. But let’s see if your student can put up more of a fight!”

The inspector got up, but Bump wasn’t really paying attention.

“Yes, yes!” he exclaimed. “Oh, wait, what?”

The change in the atmosphere was immediate. The Inspector slammed her hands against the stage, startling both Amity and her abomination. And then, the most unexpected thing happened. Her face twisted, growing and dripping. Her eyes widened, her mouth spread and revealed pointed teeth, her ears became fins. Her tongue slipped and licked her own nose. The old woman had turned into some kind of distorted creature. 

“Is, uh, this part of the inspection?” Principal Bump asked, not trusting his eyes. How could a man so stupid get so high in the school hierarchy? 

Amity was not so foolish. “Abomination, fight!” she yelled and her monster lurched forward, wrapping its arms around the defiled woman.

It was too late.

Her body stretched even longer, arms, legs, chest and hips merging into a single tail. She howled, her mouth wide-open, and swallowed the abomination at once.

“The magic at Glandus High was tasty,” the monster said, swirling around the stage with her gaze focused on Amity. “But I hope yours will be more filling.”

Glandus High. Emira had seen the news. Students being stripped off their magic and found completely numb. This was it. This monster. That was what had attacked Glandus High.

Emira and Edric got up, but Principal Bump was already moving. He put himself between Amity and the monster. “Amity, stay back. She’s an impostor!”

He drew a green circle in the air, but it was helpless. The monster opened its mouth and sucked the air in front of it, swallowing the circle before the spell could be completed. Pale and grayish, Bump feel on his knees, then face down, leaving Amity on her own. 

Emira and Edric were already moving towards the stage, but they had been sitting so far back. Amity tried the same strategy and met the same end as the Principal before they could reach her.

The monster turned around, leading the twins to a halt. They both raised their hands, drawing blue circles in the air, but nothing could be done. 

A weird feeling suddenly filled Emira’s body, as if it was becoming immaterial. She managed to take one last look at Edric before his eyes closed and felt down. Then everything went black. 

***

When the world came to life for her again, it manifested itself as Edric’s worried face. 

“Ems, you’re back!” he hugged her. 

She was, right? She didn’t think she would, this time

Emira looked around. People all around the theater were starting to get up and leave. Amity seemed all right and there was no sight of the monster. Someone must have found a way to defeat it. 

Her eyes darted to the stage. There it was. The basilisk was buried and trapped under sand bags and was nothing but an empty skin. Next to it, Principal Bump and Luz, the human, faced three other students. A cat creature in purple and yellow clothes, a tall guy in green and pink. And next to him…

 _No._ It couldn’t be. 

The third student was a brunette girl with a hair bun and a customized uniform skirt. The arms of her clothes were orange and the legs were dark blue. She smiled, looking at her new clothes as if they were the best gift she had ever received.

Emira would always recognize that smile.

_Viney._


	2. Never Have I Left Her

Emira’s mind flooded with memories.   
  


***

_Viney, sitting across the cafeteria on her first day at Hexside, two years ago. Joking, laughing, not noticing her at all._

_Viney on their first Heximal System class together, throwing paper balls on Edric’s hair and freezing when Emira turned to look at her. How she had turned her head ready to strike back, but softened upon seeing who the bully was, then winking at her and pretending she hadn’t seen anything._

_Viney trying out for the grudbgy team that Emira hadn’t dared to apply to, and failing miserably, but no being bothered by it._

_The first time Viney went to her house to work on a group project she’d been put on with the twins. How mesmerized she’d been at the sight of the Blight Manor. Emira had wished to invite her to spend the night there, but she didn’t dare asking her parents._

_When Viney found a baby griffin in the school yard and decided to keep it as a pet and name him Puddles._

_The school trip to the Emperor’s Coven on their first year, when Viney and that guy from the Plants track were caught trying to use the Oracle Coven Relic and were suspended for a week. And how Emira had done everything in her power to keep that information away from the rest of the rest of the Blight family, so they wouldn’t think even less of her._

_The other school trip to Frogsmeadow, where they tricked Edric into finding a made-up item in the market so they could they would be left alone for a while. They’d even held hands that day._

_When Grom approached and Emira was so scared no one would invite her that she told everyone she was going with Edric so he wouldn’t be alone, and ended up never really knowing if Viney would be interested or not._

_When Puddles eventually broke into Viney’s Healing Magic demonstration right in front of Principal Bump, which led him to condemn her to the Detention Track just a few days before the school year was over._

_When Viney asked Emira to spend the vacation with her and just couldn’t understand_ why _Emira couldn’t be away from her family for so long. How she’d just assumed it was because Emira didn't want to be seen with someone from the Detention track. How Emira_ could not _tell her the truth and had to bare her assumptions._

_How they’d never even seen each other again at school after that._

***

Viney had been in the Detention track for over a year now, which excluded her from any interaction with other students and group activities. And yet, there she was, onstage, with a double-colored uniform. 

How could that have happened? It had to have been Luz. She was onstage with them. She really was a tough one. 

Emira grasped Edric’s arm. “Ed. We need to get out of here.”

“Why? The Basilisk is gone.”

She pointed to the stage with her head and his eyes followed, filling with realization once he saw who was standing there. Edric was stupid, but not _that stupid._ He stretched a hand to help her up. 

“Well,” he said, lifting her from the ground, “I guess classes are canceled anyway.”

***

It took her a few hours of research on Penstagram to understand what had happened. Apparently Luz and the kids from the Detention Track had managed to defeat the Basilisk on their own, so Principal Bump granted them permission to take more than one track. Judging by the colors in her uniform and the personal tastes she used to have, Viney was now in the Healing and Beast Keeping tracks.

This was good. If she had chosen Illusions, they would need to through on the same classes together for mostly of the week and Emira wasn’t sure if she could take it. This way, the majority of their classes would be different. But there still were the electives she and Edric took.

Despite her growing anxiety, the rest of the week went pretty well, and she not only didn’t see Viney in any classes, but didn’t cross her around the halls or in any common areas.

That was… until Friday. 

As she approached the room for History class with Edric, her fear was starting to give out. Just one more day to go. Just a few more classes.

She came to a halt at the door as soon as she saw Viney’s brown hair and ear hook. She was sitting by the window, all by herself, trying to balance a pencil on her upper lip.

Before Edric could say anything, Emira turned around and started running through the corridor.

She didn’t go very far.

One of Amity’s friends, Boscha, had been walking around with a pixie cage, for who knows what reason. Emira stumbled right onto it, sending the cage flying from Boscha’s hands. It cracked open when it reached the floor, before anyone could do anything about it.

The pixies stood still for a second, not believing their luck. Then they attacked.

***

_A pixie infestation._ Emira had caused _a pixie infestation_ in the whole school simply because she couldn’t bare sitting next to Viney after everything they’d been through. That’s how far it had gotten.

School had been canceled to deal with the problem, so at least her unplanned action had borne some results, but not for long. She’d still have to deal with it in the following week. She had just delayed the inevitable. 

In an attempt to cheer her up, Edric suggested going to Carnival that happened to be in town that weekend. It was weirdly suspicious that a Carnival had shown up out of nowhere right when school had been canceled, but it wasn’t like she had anything better to do anyway.

It happened to be a great idea. The rode the moler-coaster twice, ate fried ores, and she even managed to dump a skull and win a nice necklace that hopefully wasn’t cursed or anything like that. Edric then found a prize stall that had two friendship bracelets that formed a heart and went on and on about how they needed to win those. The last thing Emira wanted was to have another reminder of how tied to Edric she was, but he had been a sweetheart all day so she decided to give it a shot. 

They spent three hours playing all the games in the fair, from “Ring Toss” to “Swallow Hollow”, “Whack a Giraffe” and “Boiling Waters.” It wasn’t enough. The bracelets cost one million tickets. They’d barely gotten 10 thousand. But there was always another option for the Blight twins.

Giggling, they drew blue circles in the air, multiplying the tickets again and again and again until they had even more than what was needed. The seller would never notice, or at least not until they were very far away. It was a perfect plan.

And yet, when they arrived at the stall…

“NOOOOO!!” Edric fell on his knees, grasping the empty board. Someone had been faster. “How will people know we’re bound forever now??”

“Oh, how, I wonder?” Emira rolled her eyes, then went to the vendor. “What else have you got there?”

“Well, let’s see…” he replied, unexcited. “We have voodoo bears, scream balloons, this weird skull from an abandoned cave that seems to hold the soul of a long-lost demon….”

“Oh, that’s nice.” Edric was back on his feet, examining the skull closer, almost getting his finger chopped off by its jaw. 

A giggle drove Emira’s gaze away from the stall. Oh no. Not again.

Viney stood three stalls away from them. She seemed to be having a good time watching her friend, who was now in the Abomination and Plants tracks, throw up in a garbage can, either for eating too many fried ores or going to the moler-coaster. Or both.

Emira froze, Edric’s voice disappearing in the distance. It would only be a few seconds before Viney turned her face and noticed her there. She had to act fast.

Once again, she ran. 

This time, she managed not to bump into anyone, zigzagging her path as far from Viney as she could. She could hear Edric calling out to her, but only stopped several minutes later, when she got out of breath. 

“Ems!” she heard her brother exclaim as he approached her. “What happen? Did the skull see into your soul? I swear I’m not gonna buy it, I just wanted to-”

“It’s not that!” she yelled, still a bit breathless.

“What is it, then?” He looked seriously concerned. 

She couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t say it out loud. Not to Edric, of all people.

Her heart almost exploded when the curtains from the stall behind them opened up and the owner yelled at the top of his lungs, “WELCOME, FELLOW RESIDENTS OF THE BOILING ISLES! ICARIUS LEVITOSA IS HERE TO LIFT ALL YOUR PROBLEMS!”

Emira and Edric exchanged a wary glance, but took a step closer. The owner was a short pig-faced man who were glasses and lab coat. His stall consisted in several rows of colorful liquids in intricate glass bottles. 

He pointed his paw at Emira. “You, little one! I can see your true colors!”

Emira sucked her breath. “C-can you?”

“Yes! You are troubled. But worry not! My handcrafted potions, all officially approved by the Emperor’s Coven, will sure help you with whatever issue you’re going through. Need some luck elixir? Maybe a truth potion? Or maybe you want to make your problems... “ he approached her to whisper quietly while pointing to row or purple liquis. “Disappear.”

Emira sighed in relief. Just another con artist. Nothing to worry about. 

But then, she heard it again. The giggle.

From the distance, she could see Viney and her friends approaching. The girl hadn’t noticed her yet, but she would, soon. So, for the third time in that day, Emira prepared to run away.

Except this time Edric grabbed her arm. 

“It’s Viney, isn’t it? Why are you so afraid of her anyway?”

“I-I can’t…” she couldn’t explain. She didn’t have time for it.

“Ems, you can’t keep running away from her forever. We’re gonna have to see her at school and-”

“I know! I know, Edric, I just-”

It was too late. Viney had spotted her. She was approaching the stall with her friends.

Emira panicked. She turned to the bottles on her side, the colorful liquids shining in the Carnival light. Which one was the invisibility potion, again? It didn’t matter. She was running out of time. 

She took one of the green bottles, opened it up and took a sip before Icarius could complain about payment in advance. She closed her eyes, waiting for the effect to sink in. When she opened them again, her hand was still there. “Why didn’t it work?”

“Well maybe because that’s the truth potion, not the invisibility one.” Icarius mumbled.

Oh no. _Oh. No._

“Oh well, if it isn’t Emira Blight.” Viney’s voice came from behind her.

She was doomed. 


	3. If This Spell Could Talk

“Long time no see,” Viney continued. “How are you, Emira?”

“Scared!” The word came out before she could do anything about it. She immediately covered her mouth with her hands. 

Viney raised an eyebrow with a tricky smile. “Oh this looks interesting.”

Emira was sure this was the end. Viney would ask her about the trip and she would spill the truth in the worst possible scenario. In front of Edric. Of all people. 

But all of a sudden, the one who was making this whole situation more complicated decided to be her knight in shining armor.

“Heeey Viney!” Edric leaned against the table, almost knocking off some bottles. “So you’re in two tracks now, huh? How did that happen?”

It wasn’t Viney who replied, but her friend. “Oh, you won’t believe it, we were-” He was interrupted by Viney’s hand in front of him.”

“That’s… none of your business. I’m more interested in asking your sister some questions.” 

“Oh, what a shame!” Edric exclaimed. “She was just on her way to meet Amity. She had an… emergency. In the bathroom. Don’t go near there.” Viney opened her mouth to question him, but he was already pushing Emira by her shoulders. “Go, Em, you don’t want to leave Mittens waiting!”

Emira took one last glance at Edric, who winked at her, then left the group before Viney could saying anything else. 

The only question was… where to go?

She didn’t actually want to go to the bathroom, Viney could end up coming after her. She just needed a place to stay until the effects of the potion wore off.

The answer showed up in front of her after a few steps. A House of Mirrors. With so many thrilling attractions around the fair, the decaying building one was completely empty. There was no line, not even someone watching the door. Despite the irony of being surrounded by reflections, it was the perfect hideout. 

At first sight, the House of Mirrors wasn’t that impressive. She emerged into a corridor covered on both sides by mirrors that would distort you. Taller, shorter, thinner, fatter. But as she went deeper, it seemed as if some sort of magic had been applied to the rest of the mirrors. Or maybe it was just how they worked on her. Her hair would change colors, birds and butterflies would dance around her shoulders, her features would change place.

She eventually got to a large circular room completely covered by mirrors. Her reflection was everywhere around her. The whole place was full of Emiras. 

“You can’t run away forever.” A voice called her attention and she turned around. But it wasn’t Viney’s. It was her own. Her reflection was talking to her.

“You’re gonna have to tell her the truth, eventually.” said another of her reflections.

“And when you do, she’ll have to tell everyone.” said another one.

All around her, her reflections would take turn talking to her. 

“How could she not? This is wrong.”

“You are wrong, Emira.”

“You’re just like the rest of us.”

“We’re just like you.”

She tried to find the exit, but somehow couldn’t. The spell inside that room was messing with her mind, trapping her in a nightmare of reflections. 

“The truth will come out.”

“Edric will know why you ran away from Viney.”

“He’ll know it’s his fault.”

“What do you think he’s gonna do when he finds out?”

Emira sank to the ground, burying her face in her hands. She wasn’t sure if the House of Mirrors was designed to act like this or if it was a combination of Illusion Magic and the truth potion she had just drank, but it was driving her insane.

“You know what he’ll do.”

“He’ll put an end to all of it.”

“He’ll put an end to you.”

A crash echoed throughout the room, startling her. The voices stopped. She raised her eyes. 

Viney was standing at the exit, which was now magically back in place. She had a bag full of balls from the “Swallow Hollow” game, one of which she had thrown at one of the mirrors, shattering it into pieces. “What a nasty little place here. No wonder no one is eager to enter.”

“How... Why?” Emira asked, blinking. 

Viney threw a ball at her and she barely managed to catch it mid-air. “Do you want answers or do you want to tear down this place with me?”

Emira caught herself smiling defiantly. She got on her feet and threw the ball at another mirror, exploding it into a glass dust. Viney laughed, then threw another one.

For a few minutes, they let go of whatever past grudges that drove them apart and directed their tension towards the balls they threw at the mirrors. The action felt cathartic, as if their anger was exploding and fainting along with the reflections. 

It was just like the old times. The two of them, playing around, destroying property and bringing down the capitalism. Emira even managed to laugh.

But just as quick as the whole mess started, it ended. All the mirrors were gone, and she was left alone with Viney, unsure if she was still under the truth spell.

“So, how did you find me?” she finally got courage to ask.

Viney shrugged. “You didn’t think I’d buy your brother’s stupid story about Amity, right? I made him believe I had, then foiled Jerbo and followed you. Easy-peasy.” She blew her nails.

“But… why?”

Viney sighed. “Emira, I noticed you running away from me. Several times.” Oh, great. Not embarrassing at all. “I was… worried about you.”

“Worried?”

“Yeah, I mean… I always assumed you were avoiding me because you were embarrassed of me not because you were… scared. I guess I didn’t realize what a monstrosity I am.”

“No, that’s not it!” Emira exclaimed promptly. 

“No? Why did you run then?”

Emira sighed. She stepped away from Viney and sat on the floor, carefully avoiding the glass shards. She’d never imagined that Viney would believe something was wrong with her to the point of scaring people away. This wasn’t fair to her. Potion or not, she deserved the truth.

“Last summer. The trip.”

“Yeah?” Viney sat down by her side. 

“I told you I couldn’t go, and never explained why.”

“You didn’t have to. I know how the Blight family would feel about their daughter hanging out so much with troublemaker like me. It would be bad for your image.”

“I let you believe that for a long time, because I thought it was better like this. But it’s not. I understand now.” She raised her head to look directly into Viney’s eyes. “Before I go on, you have to promised this won’t leave this room. You have to promise on your life. On your parents’ lives. On you-”

Viney cut her off by taking her hand and drawing a spell circle around it. She was making an everlasting oath “I promise.”

For a second, Emira was speechless. That was the most sacred and meaningful kind of promise a witch could make. Viney would be bound to her words forever. She’d never imagined her old friend would be willing to do that, even when they were closer than sisters. If she’d known, all this mess could’ve been avoided. Emira straightened her back.

“The reason why I couldn’t go to the trip with you was because I… literally can’t stay away from my family for too long. Not from Edric.”

“Well, I know twins are close but-”

“That’s not it. Edric and I we’re… not exactly twins.” 

She wanted to say it. To tell her the whole thing. But the words seemed stuck on her mouth. 

Viney frowned. “What… Do you mean?”

Emira decided to give it another try.

“I… I am…” She took a deep breath. “Edric… made me.”

“He’s your… father?”

“No, I mean… He  _ made _ me. With magic.”

For a moment, the frown stayed on Viney’s face, but then Emira watched as it slowly transformed into a realization. “You’re… You’re an illusion?”

Emira nodded. “I am. That’s why I’m called Emira. A mirror.” She looked at the destroyed pieces around them. “I’m his mirror.”

“So… you’re not… real?”

“Well, I feel real. Real enough, I guess. I feel things. I need to eat, drink and sleep. I can touch stuff like any illusion. I have my own thoughts. I guess that counts as being real, right?”

“But how did this happen?” Viney asked, exasperated. 

“Edric has always been a skilled illusionist, despite what people oftren think of him. When he was four, Mittens was still a baby, and he felt very lonely. And that’s how I came to be. He made me in his own image. His twin. 

“Your parents… Do they…?”

“They know, of course. My parents were taken aback at first, but they ended up concluding that this was proof that their son was such a powerful witch. When I showed the same amount of power, they decided to raise me as their own. If one successful Blight child was good, two was everything they could’ve asked for. They made official papers for me and signed me up at Hexside as a regular student when the time came. No one could ever know the truth, or the whole scheme would come public and damage their image. I became a Blight secret.”

Emira waited for Viney’s response, but she took a while to be able to give it. 

“This is… a lot to process.”

“I know. Take your time.”

“Does Amity know?”

“Yes. She doesn’t care, though. I’ve been here basically her whole life, so it’s like having a regular sister I guess.”

“Sure.” Viney was still shaken by the information. “So what happens if you stay out of Edric for too long?”

“Poof!” Emira opened both her hands at once, mimicking an explosion. “I’d be gone until he brought me back. It actually happened last week, when the Basilisk attacked. It sucked Edric’s magic, so…”

“Wait, so if he dies you…?” She passed her finger on her throat and made a shrieking noise. Emira nodded. “Wow that sucks.”

“I’ll be tied to him for all eternity. It’s not that bad, he’s a nice brother and has a soft heart despite being a little silly. But still…” Her eyes drifted away. “I wish there was some way I could just… exist, you know? For real.”

“Yeah, I can imagine it. Does he know you feel that way?”

“Oh, no no no.” Emira shook her head fervently. “I can’t imagine how he’d react if he knew. I’ve joked around before, but this… He just has  _ so much power _ over me. I can simply disappear if he wishes so. I fear the pain would make him end the spell even if unwillingly. I just… I can’t risk everything”

Viney sighed and got to her feet. “Okay, I get why you didn’t tell me the truth back then. It’s a lot to take in. But still… I wish you could’ve trusted me, you know? We were so close…”

Emira stood up and took Viney’s hand on hers. “I know. I should have. And I should never have avoided you. The way you just jumped into this oath now… I…” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

A shy smile formed on Viney’s face. “Thank you for saying that.”

Emira exhaled, getting rid of all the tension that had consumed her for so long. “Now that things are sorted out, can we start over?”

She saw Viney’s hesitation and the tension came back all at once. She withdrew her hand. 

“Listen. I don’t think things will go back to how they were so soon.” 

Oh. 

She should’ve seen this coming. What had she thought? That she would simply spill out the truth to Viney, and they would go back to braiding each other’s hair? How silly. 

And yet, Viney took her hand again. “But we can give it a try.” She raised her eyes, meeting Emira’s. “How about we start with running away from this dump before the owner realizes we’re completely destroyed the place?”

Emira let a short laugh escape, then followed Viney towards the exit of the House of Mirrors. 


End file.
